U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,153 teaches a method of reducing the amount of formation water in oil recovered from an oil well through the insertion of a cyclone separator downhole in an oil well producing a stream of mixed oil and water. In accordance with the described method, a first outlet of the cyclone separator is connected to a recovery conduit extending to surface. The recovery conduit conveys a recovery stream of oil with a reduced water content to surface. A second outlet of the cyclone separator is connected to a disposal conduit. The disposal conduit conveys a disposal stream of mainly water to a disposal site, which is usually a downhole formation chosen to be a disposal zone. The reference goes on to describe various pumping configurations which, when used in combination with the cyclone separator, can further enhance recovery.
When the production stream from the oil well has a high gas content, great care must be taken in the selection of the pumping configuration. During downhole processing through the cyclone separator and the pump, "gas breakout" inevitably occurs. Gas breakout involves the release of entrained gases from the liquid being pumped. This gas breakout can adversely affect the efficiency of the pumping configuration and may also impact the operation and efficiency of the cyclone separator.